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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 1979)
Slouch by Jim Earle “This is a new first. He told me he could not make class because he had to talk to his counselor about how he could improve his grades.” Opinion 80s: tough decade The 1980s begin in a month. Or are they already here? They might be. Irving Kristol, a conservative, says the next decade will focus on foreign affairs, not domestic issues like the ’60s or “me” like the ’70s. “The 1980s have alreay begun,” he said at a student conference in Atlanta last week. “They began earlier this month in Tehran. America is realizing— the hard way— it does not control the world, or even the major resources it needs to prosper. And Kristol says this will force the United States into drastic action to secure vital energy. “The U.S. can’t grow in the ’80s without military action and our policing of world economic order. ” In other words, Kristol predicts the country will go to war to protect its gas-guzzling autos and increasing Gross Na tional Product. But Kristol is a neo-conservative, and as such paints the worst picture possible. “The world is in the process of falling apart,” he glooms. He ignores the changes Americans, both citizens and businessmen, can make to redirect the scenario. Certainly, the country cannot afford to continue importing about half its oil — 8 million barrels a day. But we don’t have to go to war to get it, either. A recent Harvard Business School study showed Americans can “make” millions of barrels a day through conservation. Through the 80s we will be forced to adjust our lifestyles to use less energy, and we must also adjust our national ego. The rest of the world is catching up, and we can’t tell it what to do anymore. The ’80s have begun. It will be a tough decade, but not an impossible one, Mr. Kristol. the small society by Brickman \\ao-fer<! H5- -5AIP MY <PUT- Washington Star Syndicate. Inc f/-ze The Battalion U S P S 045 360 LETTERS POLICY LettfT.s to the editor should not exceed 3(X) words and are subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone number for verification. Address correspondence to Li’tters to the Editin'. The Battalion, Room 216, Reed McDonald Building. College S ta tio n, Texas 77843. Represented nationally by National Educational Adver tising Services, Inc., New Y'ork City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday from September through May except during exam and holiday xriods and the summer, when it is published on Tuesday hrough Thursday. Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per chool year; $35.00 per full year. Advertising rates furnished n request. Address; The Battalion, Room 216. Reed McDonald Building. College Station. Texas 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use for reproduction of all news dispatches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second-Class postage paid at College Station. TX 77843. MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congress Editor Liz Newlin Managing Editor Andy Williams Asst. Managing Editor Dillard Stone News Editors Karen Cornelison and Michelle Burrowes Sports Editor Sean Petty City Editor Roy Bragg Campus Editor . Keith Taylor Focus Editor Beth Calhoun Staff Writers Meril Edwards, Nancy Andersen, Louie Arthur, Richard Oliver, Mark Patterson, Carolyn Blosser, Kurt Allen, Debbie Nelson, Rhonda Watters Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschper Jr. Photographers Lynn Blanco, Sam Stroder, Ken Herrera Cartoonist Doug Graham Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the tor iter of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of Regents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self- supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and community newspaper. Editorial policy is determined by the editor. Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Wednesday November 28, 1979 C£ Analysis We can curb skyrocketing inflation by lowering home mortgage interei By JIM BOYLE Escalating home prices in Texas, cou pled with soaring mortgage rates, have not only fueled inflation but have turned the real estate market into a speculator’s dream. Investors have been lured into this market on investments. Yet for the wage earner looking to invest in a first home, the hope of home-ownership has just about dis appeared. Now Texas mortgage lenders are press ing for unlimited mortgage rates, a move that would probably be the most inflation ary act undertaken this year — even worse than the severe and unjustified fuel price hikes dumped on consumers over the last six months. Let’s review what is happening. Jacking up the mortgage rate ceiling from 10 to 12 percent, as the Legislature has already done, means that borrowers must pay an average of $75 more per month to purchase a home. Going from 12 to 14 percent will mean an additional payment of $80 monthly — an even more staggering burden on the bor- Over a 30-year period, the jump from 10 to 14 percent will entail adding a $55,000 increase in interest payments to be paid by the consumer. That’s $55,000 more! These same lenders who now tell us that we need higher rates so that money will be available for home loans will soon be telling us that we are ineligible for such loans. Savings and Loans associations and mort gage bankers require that a borrower pay no more than one-quarter of his or her income for mortgage payments. As the us ury rate goes up from 10 to 12 percent, the person whose income fails to rise by $300 a month will be priced out of the market. Should mortgage rates shoot up to 14 percent, the borrower’s earnings must in crease by another $320 per month. The result is surely to be that fewer and fewer borrowers will qualify for a home loan. Moreover, when a market heats up, as the real estate market has, it drains capital away from other sectors of the economy. As more and more money is tied up in real estate, much less money is available for business and other forms of commerce. Meanwhile, the increase in mortgage rates will probably mean either increases in interest rates throughout the lending in dustry or the wholesale denial of credit to other borrowers. Lenders are not going to make a loan for someone to buy a car or a washing machine when they can reap high er profits on a long-term housing loan. It is often said that deficit spending by government is a prime cause for inflation. Every day we hear a call for government to balance the budget. But few recognize that consumer deficit spending is a major cause of inflation. In fact, the increase in consum er indebtedness this past year surpassed the government’s $30 billion deficit in crease with a deficit increase of $40 billion. u By G I A seri Texas A6 livers it y of Biscuss v at the tv |Presiclen plie Colh eeting This, b ®fhen exi &M. Texas i g off, h< itrategic Like a cancer that spreads silently and unchecked, inflation has gotten out of hand. By the year 2000, just 20 years from now, an underpaid school teacher in Texas presently earning $13,000 will have to pull down $105,000 to keep even with the rise in the cost of living. People who are pushed to the wall with bills to pay do not make diligent workers. A state employee, for example, may be under so much financial pressure that the em ployee will be totally consumed by the problem of economic survival. Ill)I results is moonlighting or a busm« I side with little attention going to! highways or solving educational or doing whatever job is at ham These economic fears have am and disruptive effect on the fabriMi ican life. For example, more cent of the people who get marrii end up in divorce court, and pressure is often a major factor, families both parents must worl keep up with rising costs—asiti is especially trying when young 1 are involved. It is time that we hold the lines tion. The housing market, whicl sents the greatest single expendiia 0 theTe longest commitment made by ms ion Satu sinners, is a good place to start. The disease of inflation isfarw* a m ed the short term effects ofborrowersu Jjggs. ing mortgage money available orol porary decline in housing starts. Inflation destroys confidence ints )e forma nomy, family, society and ourselvn Jim Boyle is the executivedirecte Texas Consumer Association. IWf* TOUKTSINSESSON. NWHEREGMIIPSE! Anothi he Robi The ong-timi he Klebi Cent ]hairnia: Cleberg I Cleberg, ns Mille iresidenl Biggs tanch fa reate th Jniversil hortly al he hui N reseai Aeror Amassing oil can prevent foreign blackmd There are many reasons why amassing of a Strategic Petroleum Reserve has not gone along like it should have. There have been contracting problems, technical difficulties and cost overruns. Now we re only able to get enough oil from domestic and imported sources to fuel current consumption; there isn’t any left to stockpile. What we should be concentrating on now, as the situation in Iran so tragically reminds us, is finding a way to get the reserve completed. The eventual plan is to have a billion barrels of oil stored away in salt domes in Louisiana and Texas. That sounds like a lot, but it would hardly relieve us of our de pendence on foreign oil; at current rates of consumption, it would only replace about four months of imports. But what it would do is make us less vulnerable to short-term interruptions of foreign supply, whether by accident or on purpose. Filling the reserve isn’t going to happen, though, if we continue to consume all we can get our hands on. The 900 million bar rels we still have to go to fill the stockpile isn’t going to come from OPEC sources. Saudi Arabia has already said it will cut back its current extra production if we put it into the reserve, and there’s no use get ting upset about it — we can’t make them sell us more than they want. There is only one way to get enough oil to complete the Strategic Petroleumfe soon, and that’s to cut down on then of domestic oil we are nowusinga* stash some away. That meansatleasl! sacrifice — doing without someexln ing or turning our thermostats down If we don’t do it and OPEC nations!; to play a little oil blackmail, we’116 what doing without really means. The Atlanta Journal Letters Challenge made to athletic director to explain non-support of water polo Editor: I was very shocked the other evening when I was informed of a big injustice done to the Texas A&M water polo team and the University itself. A&M has one of the best water polo programs outside the state of California (which totally dominates the sport). A&M regularly beats almost every team that they play, and they have won many big tourna ments in the past. This year they went to New York and literally beat every team that the East could throw at them. Also, this year they were ranked 7th in the nation in the NCAA polls; the top six teams being from California. Since they are in the top ten, this automatically gives them an in vitation to the NCAA water polo champion ships which are held in California. The sad thing this year is that they couldn’t go. Our “beloved” athletic dire ctor, Marvin Tate, refused to recognize them. Because of this nonrecognition as a NCAA contender, A&M was stripped of its place in the rankings and denied an invita tion to the NCAA water polo champion ships. Because of this, the water polo team was low in enthusiasum all year and didn’t play very wholeheartedly because no mat ter how well they did, they still wouldn’t go to the NCAA finals. Despite this fact, they still won the ma jority of their games. Many of the good players are considering transfering to other schools so they can play in the NCAA ranks. If this happens, water polo at A&M will literally go down the drain. This whole situation seems very strange to me because last year the water polo team did go to the NCAA championships and they did rather well. At that time, Emory Bellard was the athletic director and he recognized the ta lent of the A&M water polo team. Bellard realized that A&M had a serious contender that would represent and honor our school well. I guess Mr. Tate obviously thinks in the opposite direction. So far, he has given no one any backing for his reasoning either. Obviously it can’t be money, because send ing our team to the NCAA Championships would hardly cost Mr. Tate’s “precious” athletic budget a penny. The water polo team cleans Kyle Field after home games and gets a lot of their travel money from that. They have all the money they need. I am making a personal challenge to Mr. Tate to publicly back his reasoning. I am also asking him to ponder this question: “Do you think that the A&M football or basketball teams would attract top athletes and national attention if they were in a conference and not allowed into the presti- gous Southwest Conference?” I am neither a scholarship athlete or a water polo enthusiast. I simply am a stu dent who hates to see a great sport at A&M such as water polo go to “nothing” because of a stubborn athletic director. — Mike Janney, ’82 Bonfire pyromatin Editor: School spirit and tradition arc pf' see and for the last few weeksalotofl pie-hours, trees, petroleum, elect* etc., have been sacrificed forthetrad#* bonfire. I guess it is just un-traditionalof® think some traditions must change)® believe in resource and energy con* tion while advocating contractive munity work instead of pyromania Anyway, fellow Aggies, Til see you* game Saturday, but I’m sorry 1 "O) attending your “weiner roast.” — Walter Og^ Thotz By Doug Grahm Per